


Darchel Drabbles

by VulgarSequins



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Genderbend, Genderbending, Genderswap, Hair Braiding, Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:46:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulgarSequins/pseuds/VulgarSequins
Summary: Just drabbles of Rachel and Darla since I can't get enough of them and I take too long to write chapter fics.
ch1: Hair braiding





	

**Author's Note:**

> Asked for prompts on tumblr for these two, and I got hair braiding! So.. uh hope you like?

It was a picturesque spring day of April in Georgia. The sun was out, the sky was clear save for a few clouds that sprinkled the sky, and the humidity was tolerable. There was a gentle breeze offering a coolness that was welcomed and not over bearing like the winter chill had been. Bugs were buzzing around in the yard; a mixture of butterflies and dragonflies. It would be perfect if it wasn’t taking place in a prison yard. 

Rachel narrowed her eyes to the walkers limping around the fences, trying to reach for the living. Glenn and Tyra were on walker duty; the two of them snickering at whispered jokes, or making a game out of their task. Rachel winced when she felt a sharp tug at the base of her skull.

“Ah-“

“Sorry, Mom,” Carla mumbled, frustration clear in her voice. Jude was completely unaware of his mother’s discomfort brought on by his sister; laughing and slapping his chubby knees while watching the bugs fly around him from the safety of his mother’s lap. 

“It’s okay, Carla. Just, careful?” Rachel turned her head to smile at her daughter, only to have her head jerked forward again.

“Mom! Be still,” Carla let out a puff of air and started working at untangling the mess in her hands that was of her own doing. 

Rachel rolled her eyes, safe in the knowledge that the preteen would not see and retaliate by pulling at her curls. 

A few days ago Carla’s friend, Patricia, had asked Carla if she wouldn’t mind braiding her hair, only to have Carla run red with embarrassment when the realization that she didn’t know how to do such a simple task that seemed ingrained into the other girls in the prison. Rachel had told her that it was silly to think that every girl knew how to braid hair flawlessly, but Carla wouldn’t hear any of it. Rachel tried to give her a crash course in braiding using Glenn as a test subject, just to have her own run in with embarrassment. 

She didn’t know how to braid hair properly either.

_“But you always used to braid my hair, Mom!” Carla bemoaned in that preteen frustration that Rachel just couldn’t handle on certain days._

_“Honey, your dad was the one-“ Rachel’s voice wavered in that way it always did when she brought of Lawerence. I was getting easier, but it still hurt. Her mental break down after giving birth to Jude still very fresh. “Your dad was the one that would braid your hair, Carla.”_

_“Oh… Yeah” Carla grew quiet, tears obvious in her eyes but she refused to let them fall; determination settling in. “Well, I saw Patricia do it. I can practice on you.”_

So here they were; Rachel sitting on a blanket in the prison yard with her two children keeping her company. She tried to get out of the lesson as much as she could, using the crops as an excused, but Carla knew when Hester had cornered her mother and told her to take a break today. No one argued with the other woman when faced with a “suggestion”. Rachel wanted to plot against the older woman, but knew it was pointless. She would just have to steal all of her conditioner to get the rat’s nest out of her hair when her daughter was either finished learning how to braid, or gave up. Though, Carla was a Grimes through and through, so it would most likely be a result of the former.

“What’n the hell ya tryin’ to do?”

Rachel blinked and tried turning her head to look at the newcomer, having not heard her walk up at all, but was forced back into position by a sharp tug.

“Carla!”

“Tryin’ to braid Mom’s hair.”

“Huh. Kinda looks like yer tryin’ to tangle it. Yer Momma piss ya off?” Rachel could hear the smugness in Darla’s voice. There was no need to even try looking. Jude perked up at the sound of Darla’s voice, squealing in delight. “What’chu do Rachel?”

“This is so pointless!” Carla quickly let go of Rachel’s hair, throwing her hands in the air and groaning. She was moving to sit up and storm off before a solid hand on her shoulder stopped her. 

“Calm down,” Darla’s voice was steady, the teasing drained out of her tone. “If ya wanna learn, I can teach ya.”

Rachel raised her brow at that, but kept facing forward. 

“…Really?” The mother had to smile a little at the awe that filled Carla’s words. Her daughter tended to get as frustrated as the hunter did when the words, “hero worship” were uttered about the two.

“Ya. Long as ya pay attention and don’t get all impatient on me. Now scoot over.” 

Rachel heard Carla shift and move to her right before the sound of Darla plopping down behind her followed. There was a rustling of fabric before she saw Darla’s legs slip beside her own crossed ones then she could feel the other woman settle close behind her. She refused to flush at the closeness. This was not the time. 

Gentle, calloused hands started threading through her curls trying to untangle the knots Carla had bestowed on them. There was a care that went in to the action of saving Rachel’s hair that made her core grow warm and another secret smile grace her lips. Darla was as rough as they came; dirty, haggard, coiled tight and ready to strike whoever threatened her or her family. However, in this moment, her hands moved with a delicate grace that Rachel had seen when the other woman interacted with her son and even Carla when the occasion called for it. A blush tinted her cheeks when she was also reminded that Darla would take this care when exploring her body in the hushed, heated nights.

“The fuck did ya do, kid?” Darla cursed.

“Language,” and Rachel chided.

“Oops,” no remorse was heard and Rachel knew her daughter was smiling at the hunter. Hands joined Darla’s hair in coming through Rachel’s curls; though they were smaller, they did try to be just as gentle. No one spoke for the longest time until Rachel’s hair was untangled, and it was time for Carla’s impromptu lesson on hair braiding with Darla as her latest teacher. Rachel had to admit, she didn’t know what to expect.

“A’right, so,” Darla spoke just loud enough for Carla to hear. This lesson wasn’t for Rachel or Jude, so she found no reason to raise her voice any louder than that. Rachel felt her heart swell because Darla was giving her attention to Carla, and only Carla. This, seemingly common, hair practice had become very important to her daughter over the past few days, and Darla was now making a point in teaching her girl; showing the preteen respect through the guidance and not annoyance as if taking a burden on. “Ya got her hair in three equal strands here. See?”

“Ya?”

“Then, yer gonna take this one over here, put it over this middle one,” Darla continued narrating her motions, deft fingers moving slow still for Carla to see and understand. 

Rachel drifted in and out of their conversation; the feeling of her lover and daughter essentially playing with her hair putting her in a calm daze. She played with Jude, trying to tire him out for his nap while the two behind her took turns braiding and unbraiding her hair; Carla quickly getting the hang of the easy three-strand basic braid. 

It was sometime later while Darla was teaching Carla a fish tail braid- _whatever the hell that means? you mean there’s more than braid and French? So out of the hair style loop on that one, Rachel.-_ that Carla asked the question that had gone through Rachel’s mind the moment Darla sat down behind her, telling Carla she would teach her to braid. 

“How did ya learn all these?” Carla’s question made Darla’s hands falter before continuing through Rachel’s locks. “Did ya have long hair once? I can’t picture ya havin’ long hair.”

“Nah,” Darla grunted out and it seemed like that was going to be all the information she was going to release to not only Carla, but Rachel as well. She had glanced down to her son that was currently nursing from her; her baby boy’s eyes heavy and his suckling growing sluggish with Jude’s oncoming nap becoming more evident. Darla’s poncho was draped over him and part of Rachel, gaining ownership of the article when she announced she needed to feed Jude some five minutes ago. Rachel opened her mouth to mention Jude had fallen asleep, to take a break in the lesson to give her a chance to fix her clothing, when Darla finally continued. “Girlfriend of mine awhile back, showed me.”

_Oh?_

“Well, not really “girlfriend”, but… ya know… Girl I kinda “knew”?”

_Oh._

“She was a hairstylist. Anyway,” Rachel could feel Darla shrug behind her, playing off the peak in to her past life and the fact she just made an obvious innuendo about her sex life to her daughter. “Showed me. Town was havin’ prom. Made me help if I was gonna just sit in her shop.”

“Oh. Cool,” Carla, just taking it in stride like everything she had to in this world. “Did ya go to prom when you-“

“Fuck nah.”

“Language.”

* * *

 

Rachel walked through the prison block with a smile on her face, nodding to her family and friends as she made her way through the hall to her own cell. She had received compliments on her hair through dinner and her walk, sporting a waterfall braid that Darla finished the lesson with. Carla didn’t quite learn that one.

After saying a quick goodnight to her daughter and making sure Carol had Jude tucked away for the night, the other woman having insisting on watching her son tonight, she made it to her own cell and slipped inside to find Darla already there to greet her. 

“Hey, wondered where you ran off to,” Rachel smiled at her lean lover and started to remove her gun belt to set on the desk. “I wanted to say-“

“ ‘M sorry ‘bout that,” Darla cut her off and kept her eyes on the wall beside her. The candle lit in the room just strong enough to show the other woman’s nerves in it’s soft glow. 

“Huh?” Rachel said eloquently, walking to Darla and placing her hands on the other woman’s waist; rubbing her thumbs on the soft skin peaking above the waistband of her pants. “What are you talkin’ about?”

“Mentionin’ Sue,” Darla’s voice barely a mumble, closing herself off. Something inside Rachel’s heart grew warm to the fact that Darla remembered the girl’s name. That maybe Sue wasn’t more than just a fling to Darla, “That girl. Could’a just said a girl I knew or somethin’ instead of a girl I fucked sometimes.”

“If I remember correctly, I don’t think you said that exactly,” Rachel couldn’t help the soft chuckle escaping, trying to reassure Darla that she wasn’t upset. 

“Well, yeah, Carla was right there. Not gonna say shit like that in front o’her-“ Darla’s eyes flicked over to Rachel’s before they glanced away just as fast. “Wait, yer not angry?”

Rachel blinked at that. 

“Hang on, angry?” Rachel reached out and took Darla’s chin in her hand, trying to get the other woman to look at her instead of the concrete walls surrounding them. She didn’t speak until grey-blue eyes met her ice blue ones. “Why would I be angry?”

“For mentionin’ her,” Darla swallowed. “Girls before, they… They kinda get all weird when ya bring up chicks ya used to bang-“

“Darla,” Rachel cut Darla off before she could continue digging herself into a hole of rambles that would later embarrass her. “I know you’ve been with women before me. I’d be a dumb ass if I thought otherwise. In fact, I thought it was kind of funny.”

“You did?”

“Mhm,” Rachel closed the space between them, pressing her body close to Darla’s heated one. “Picturin’ you surrounded by a bunch of teenagers in fluffy prom dresses.”

“Was worse than a bunch of walkers,” a smile, though barely there, graced the corners of Darla’s thin lips. Her arms slipping around Rachel’s waist. “Sure as shit meaner than ‘em.”

“Oh, I bet!” Rachel leaned back slightly to bark a laugh out. “The great hunter, Darla Dixon, scared shitless of sixteen year olds in tulle!”

“Glitter too. That shit gets on ya, it don’ come off.”

“Poor baby,” Rachel faked a pout before leaning closer to Darla’s face; lips brushing softly. “I do wanna know somethin’ though.”

“Yeah?” Darla’s voice dropping and coming out in a hushed whisper.

“Sue have better hair than me?” Rachel raised a brow.

“Are ya fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” Both of Darla’s hands were in Rachel’s curls in an instant; buried deep and getting lost. The redneck started petting through them, her words just murmurs and her pupils blown out. “Fuckin’ love yer hair. So glad ya wear it down all the time now. These curls are gorgeous.”

“Whaddya think of my bed head?” Rachel had started placing kisses on Darla’s jawline, moving to her neck.

“ **Definitely** love seein’ yer hair like that-“ A growl response and fist tightening in a sea of curls.

“I’d hate to ruin my new hairdo-“ Hands moving up a muscled waist and fingertips ghosting along the soft curve of perk breasts. 

“Fuck the ‘do,” Darla’s free hand moving to the front of Rachel’s pants, popping the button and pulling the zipper down. “Wanna see if I can get so tangled, squirrels start nestin’ in it.”

Rachel laughed a solid two minutes before Darla could successfully even get her to the bed.


End file.
